New Town has received a gold certification from the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), making it India’s first satellite city to receive the honour.

The IGBC is a part of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Formed in 2001, it rates buildings, schools, healthcare centres, cities etc on their eco-friendly quotient and New Town’s award — the second highest level after platinum level — was handed over at Hidco Bhavan on September 12.

“New Town had applied for an IGBC rating in 2016 and our team studied their policies, made recommendations, waited for their revised reports…. It was a long-drawn process that other administrations may have withdrawn from half-way down the road but Debashis Sen’s team pursued it till the end. The effort is commendable,” said Shakuntala Ghosh, architect and partner at Ghosh, Bose & Associates and chairperson, IGBC Calcutta chapter.

“This award is a matter of pride for Calcutta,” said Sushil Mohta, chairman and managing director, Merlin Group, who is also co-chairman of IGBC’s Calcutta chapter. “So far, most of the talk has been about green buildings but now New Town as a city has achieved this feat. I’m sure this will inspire other cities to follow suit.”

In 2016, the state government had pulled New Town out of the central government’s Smart City programme and instead proposed to build a Green City out of it, with focus on sustainability.

“While we have been taking steps to be eco-friendly, we wanted to see how we fare nationally and internationally. For this, we needed an external and neutral body to rate us,” said Sen, chairman cum managing director of Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco). “While we are happy with our gold rating we shall strive for platinum next.”

Here are the major categories that were assessed for the certification-

Land use planning

Twenty-two per cent of New Town’s land has been used for parks, playgrounds, city green cover and water bodies. This includes Eco Park, Swapno Bhor senior citizens’ park, the tall tree bank near Upasana immersion ghat etc.

“We also had points in case the open spaces were within 400m of offices and residential complexes,” said Ghosh. “New Town scored in employment opportunities too. If an area can generate employment, residents do not have to drive out for work. This saves petrol and time.”

“When townships like Salt Lake were built, the norm was the keep residential areas separate from business districts but now we want to propagate the ‘walk to work’ model with offices, schools and markets so close that one doesn’t need to drive there,” said Ghosh. “New Town’s central business district has 49 per cent residential area. It won points for compact city planning. “

NKDA also aims for zero visitors to the urban local bodies by way of providing sufficient e-governance.

Electric buses, that ply across the township, reduce the carbon footprint Telegraph picture

Sustainable mobility

New Town scored well in providing last mile connectivity through electric buses and totos and a cycle sharing app. They have separate lanes for cycles and have even scored points for removing hawkers from some pavements and rehabilitating them in markets. Plus, they have the Metro and monorail in the pipeline.

“The panel did point out, however, that our footpaths are not wheelchair-friendly and we shall now work to build ramps there,” said Sen. “We want residents to be healthy and so have installed gym equipment at bus stops too.”

Soild waste management

“Hidco already had compactor machines that shrink the volume of garbage but we asked them to emphasise on segregating waste, which they did,” said Ghosh.

Seventy per cent of the vehicles that collect solid waste and sweep the roads in New Town are also enabled with GPS trackers to monitor their movement.

Boating in the Eco Park lake. New Town scores well thanks to its water bodies Telegraph picture

Water utilisation

“West Bengal is better off than other states as we have many rivers. Despite that New Town has taken the issue seriously,” said Ghosh.

“Waste water from Action Area 1 drains into Diler bheri, where it gets naturally treated. Action Areas 2 and 3 have their own sewage treatment plant and we have examined the quality of the treated water.”

Many green buildings in New Town reuse their water to reduce consumption and some adopt rainwater harvesting too. “There are two forms of rainwater harvesting — one system recharges water to the underground water table and the other recycles the water for daily use. The latter is more popular,” said Ghosh. There are several ponds that collect rainwater too.

The panel had recommended all buildings in New Town to introduce rainwater harvesting but Hidco could not enforce that. “They have however introduced a clause requiring all plots larger than 2 acres to implement roof-top rainwater harvesting,” said Ghosh.

Debashis Sen (centre) receives the award from IGBC Calcutta co-chairpersons Sushil Mohta (extreme left) and Shakuntala Ghosh (second from right). Mayukh Sengupta

Tech savvy

New Town scored well in integrating information, communication and technology. “They are also making efforts to be energy efficient, be it in terms of using LED street lights or solar power,” said Ghosh. “The Smart City project by the central government focuses more on technological advances but they are incomplete without being eco-friendly. They are not involving architects and planners and that would be a huge lacuna.”

Once ready, the Metro will provide another eco-friendly travelling option Telegraph picture

More to do

New Town has faced criticism from environmentalists about not having enough trees and Ghosh admits more can be done. “It’s an ongoing process. Saplings need time to grow and even then the township is greener today than it was three years ago,” she says.

The panel has also praised the simple but effective move of making bamboo fences on road medians. “During internal meetings too, chief minister Mamata Banerjee has praised these fences. They are eco-friendly and cost-effective,” said Sen.

Ghosh concedes that it is difficult for an already-built township to incorporate eco-friendly changes. “For instance, it is difficult for New Town to mitigate heat islands,” she said.

Urban heat islands are areas that get hotter than their surroundings due to human activities. “Back in the day when roads were narrow, trees from both sides would form canopies overhead and keep the roads cool. Now streets are so wide that trees cannot form canopies,” Ghosh explained.

The panel had recommended that Hidco get all buildings to have greenery on their terraces but they could not make this mandatory. “They are however reviewing future policies on it. They could also not build high reflective surfaces on roads to bounce off the heat. But Action Area 3 is yet to come up and the authorities can keep these suggestions in mind before planning that out,” said Ghosh.

What needs to be done to make New Town greener?

Write to The Telegraph Salt Lake, 6 Prafulla Sarkar Street,

Calcutta 700001 or email to saltlake@abpmail.com